Meet Amardeep Dhesi, Strategic Client Success Lead at A Jolly Consulting

In this series, we introduce the people behind AJC and the experience they bring to the business. In this profile, we are spotlighting Amardeep Dhesi, Strategic Client Success Lead, who works closely with clients to understand their challenges, identify the right support and build long-term relationships.

I’m Amar, Strategic Client Success Lead at A Jolly Consulting, and I also play a key role in business development.

My role sits between understanding what clients really need, helping them navigate compliance and risk challenges, and bringing the right people and solutions together to deliver what matters most to them.

I’m not usually the technical expert in the room, and I don’t pretend to be. My strength is understanding the bigger picture, asking the right questions and bridging the gap between what a client thinks they need and the solutions or opportunities they may not have considered yet.

For me, good consultancy starts with listening, not selling.

My Role at AJC

I work closely with clients from the very first conversation through to delivery and beyond.

A large part of my role is understanding the problem a client is trying to solve, identifying their real priorities and bringing together the right expertise within AJC to support them.

That can mean helping a client tackle a regulatory or compliance challenge, developing a new fraud or payments programme, responding to a cyber security requirement, or simply working through an issue that does not yet have an obvious answer.

One thing I have learned is that the original brief is often only the starting point. Client requirements can change significantly once you begin exploring the detail.

One recent example involved an international bank that initially approached us with a broad requirement for a fraud and risk review. As the conversations developed, it became clear that the organisation had several different entities and that the scope, expertise and resources required would vary considerably across them. The work ultimately became more focused, requiring us to understand the specific business involved, identify the right specialists and shape a team around what the client actually needed rather than simply delivering against the original brief.

That is a good example of what my role involves behind the scenes. It is about managing expectations, bringing the right people together and making sure the proposed solution is realistic for both the client and the consultants delivering it.

I also spend a lot of time looking ahead. That means anticipating challenges, spotting opportunities and sometimes being the voice of reason when there is a lot of noise around a particular problem.

Ultimately, my job is to make sure clients feel supported, understood and confident that we are working in their best interests.

How I Help Our Clients

The part of my job I enjoy most is taking something that initially feels complicated and helping turn it into something practical.

That can involve understanding what the client is actually trying to achieve rather than immediately trying to sell them a predefined service, connecting them with the right specialists and building a team around the problem.

I also help organisations navigate compliance, cyber, payments and fraud-related challenges, particularly where the issue is complex or there is no obvious route forward.

Sometimes that means addressing an immediate problem. At other times, it means identifying wider opportunities to improve how the organisation works or helping the client think ahead to challenges that may be coming next.

Maintaining the relationship beyond the end of a project is also a big part of what I do. Winning a piece of work is only the beginning. The real measure of success is whether the client sees genuine value in what we deliver and wants to continue the relationship afterwards.

I have particularly enjoyed helping expand AJC’s work across the payments and fraud space. These projects can be challenging because they require the right combination of people, experience and delivery capability.

One engagement I am particularly proud of started with an introduction to a major payments organisation and developed into a much wider relationship. We initially supported the client with risk assessment work before helping with remediation and, later, supporting its licensing requirements. For me, it demonstrated what can happen when you build the relationship properly, stay close to the client and bring in the right AJC expertise at each stage. It also helped us establish experience in a market where we had not previously worked.

Getting that combination right and seeing a team deliver beyond what the client expected is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.

My Professional Background

Before joining A Jolly Consulting, I spent several years working across banking and financial services, alongside consulting assignments with some of the Big Four. I also spent a short period working with the regulator reviewing consumer credit agreements.

My experience has included large-scale banking and remediation projects covering areas such as pensions, PPI, complaints and mis-selling investigations. During my consulting work, I found that one of my strengths was identifying where processes were slowing projects down and finding practical ways to improve them. On one project, this helped significantly increase the volume of cases being reviewed and reduce the time required to complete the work.

I have also worked in consumer credit and card-related compliance, looking at the application of Visa, Mastercard and American Express rules, as well as returning to banking to work in credit cards and fraud.

That breadth of experience has given me a good understanding of how regulation, operational processes and customer outcomes connect, and I still draw on that perspective in my work with AJC today.

Throughout my career, a consistent theme has been business growth, partnerships, client relationships, compliance and transformation.

My time at AJC has probably taught me more about business than any previous role because it requires a constant balance between commercial growth and client trust.

You quickly learn that winning a piece of work is only the beginning. The real measure of success is whether the client sees genuine value in what you deliver and wants to continue the relationship afterwards.

I have also learned that consultancy does not need to be full of unnecessary jargon. I would much rather have an open conversation about the real problem a client is facing than spend half the meeting trying to demonstrate how clever we are.

Sometimes the best outcome is recognising that we are not the right people for a particular requirement. I’m always happy to jump on a call, understand the challenge and see whether we can help, even when it does not ultimately turn into a piece of work.

Good relationships tend to last longer than individual projects.

Working at AJC

One of the things I enjoy most about AJC is the entrepreneurial side of the business.

There is not always a ready-made playbook, and I quite like starting with a blank sheet of paper and asking: “How do we make this work?”

I’m probably most proud of my willingness to do whatever is needed to help move the business forward.

Sometimes that means supporting an individual or helping resolve a difficult client problem. Sometimes it is bringing together a team for a new opportunity. At other times, it means looking at markets where we have very little presence and working out how we can start building one.

Cyber Essentials is a good example. When AJC first started exploring the service, it was a relatively new area for us. I helped develop some of the early client relationships and delivery arrangements, and over time that helped create a foundation that other members of the team have been able to build on as the service has developed.

That same willingness to try new things has shaped our approach to partnerships, services and international markets. Not every idea works immediately, but I think being entrepreneurial means being prepared to test opportunities, learn from them and keep developing what does work.

AJC’s growing capability in markets such as India is part of that longer-term approach. Building a presence in a new market takes time, local relationships and the right people on the ground, but that process of gradually creating new opportunities is something I really enjoy.

That variety is a big part of what keeps the role interesting.

A Bit About Me

Outside work, I spend a lot of time with my family and, increasingly, at kart tracks with my son.

Karting has become a genuine passion and, like many parents who get involved in their children’s sports, I may now know considerably more about lap times, racing lines and tyre pressures than I ever expected to.

There are actually quite a few similarities between karting and business: preparation matters, small improvements make a big difference, and occasionally you have to accept that someone else was quicker than you that day.

I’m still working on that last one.

Travel is another big part of my life, and I have always loved a bit of adventure. One of my more memorable trips involved travelling through Kathmandu and unexpectedly being invited to fly by helicopter towards Everest Base Camp after meeting a group of climbers. The altitude quickly put an end to that particular adventure, but I would still like to return and do the trek properly one day.

I have also travelled to Antarctica and Machu Picchu, and I think that willingness to say yes to new experiences is probably a fairly accurate reflection of my personality.

Let’s Connect

If your organisation is dealing with a compliance, cyber, payments or fraud challenge, or you simply want to talk through a problem and work out your options, I’m always happy to have a conversation.

You do not need to know exactly what solution you need before speaking to us.

Quite often, working that out together is the most useful place to start.